It is important for the netting or other web material used to wrap a finished bale to be fully and cleanly severed after the completion of each wrapping cycle. However, problems sometimes arise due in part to the fact that the wrapper is typically several feet wide and an incomplete severance at any point along the width of the wrapper means that the wrapped segment is simply not fully separated from the remaining supply on the roll.
Such poor performance may be traced to a number of factors, such as misalignment of the long cutting surfaces due to inexact adjustment, warpage, or wear of the components.
Furthermore, in presently available designs, the sharp edges of the cutters may be exposed to the moving net wrap in such a manner that there is a premature or ragged cutoff of the wrap caused by all or part of the cutting edge snagging the wrapper before the desired instant of cut. If the wrapper fails to be severed, the farmer must first become aware of such mechanical failure, then climb down off the tractor, walk back to the baler, and perform the tedious task of manually severing the wrapper in preparation for continuing the baling process. Of course, if the farmer fails to realize that the wrapper has not been severed, the wrapped bale will be discharged upon initiation of the discharge cycle, but will take with it a stream of wrapper that continues to pull additional wrapping material from the roll as the baling process resumes. It is also possible that failure to sever the wrapper segment from the source of supply may lead to jam ups in the machine and subsequent mechanical breakdown.